Good morning, friends, and a very happy FRIDAY. For those of us whose children finished exams (and young, precocious readers of Enterprise) Mabrouk. As for the rest, we’re praying for all parents and students out there to have a smooth few weeks — before the exodus to Sahel begins later this month.

Stuck in Cairo, but you have a young one who cannot stop kicking the ball around (and heaven forbid is actually good at it)? Check out our list of football academies that can help train your youngsters, and potentially put them on the professional track. We have more in today’s Enterprise Guide below.

PSA- Reports of a shark attack in Hurghada that killed a Russian tourist emerged yesterday afternoon and have received widespread pickups in the foreign press. The Russian Consulate in Hurghada has confirmed in a statementthat the man was killed at Dream Beach hotel, where tourists are currently banned from swimming. The statement urged citizens to follow coast guard rules on swimming.

Enterprise Weekend out each Friday at 9:00am CLT. We’ll be back on Sunday at 6am with EnterpriseAM. Until then: Enjoy the weekend.

LAST WEEK IN 3 MINS- It was an eventful week in Omm El Donia, with plenty of macro and privatization updates keeping us busy. And we have plenty to smile about…

PRIVATIZATION-

#1- Vodafone Egypt could be back up for sale: Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA),is reportedly close to acquiring a 25-30% stake in Vodafone Egypt from Telecom Egypt through Qatari ruling family’s telco Ooreedo, with the sale potentially closing before the end of the month. TE owns a 45% stake in Vodafone Egypt, while the government owns some 70% of TE. The QIA had reportedly been eyeing TE’s entrie 45% stake earlier, which was said to have stalled talks with the government. We learned earlier this week that the two sides recently resumed negotiations.

There could be more: Local reports also say that if the company is able to acquire TE’s full stake it will look to enter talks with Vodacom, which owns the remaining 55% of the company. Vodacom, the South African subsidiary of Vodafone Group, acquired the majority stake from its parent company last year.

#2- EDC could be up next for a stake sale: The Egyptian government is reportedly in talks with strategic investors – the majority of which are Emarati – to sell a 49% stake in the Egyptian Drilling Company (EDC) before the end of 3Q 2023, according to a CNN Business Arabic source.

#3- And Elab could very soon see an EGX listing: Egyptian Linear Alkyl Benzene (Elab) will be listed on the EGX this month with the government seeking to sell more than a 40% stake in the company, according to the source.

#3-Port Said Port operator heading to the EGX: The Suez Canal Economic Zone’s (SCZone) board of directors signed off yesterday on selling a 20% stake in Port Said Container and Cargo Handling (PSCCHC) in an IPO on the EGX. SCZone currently holds a 39% stake in PSCCHC. The Qatari Investment Authority and Abu Dhabi Ports had previously been in talks to acquire stakes in PSCCHC, along with Damietta Container and Cargo Handling.

SPEAKING OF THE EGX- Taqa Arabia’s shares were listed temporarily on the EGX. The company will have six months to meet listing requirements and obtain regulatory approvals.

INVESTMENT WATCH-

#1- We have a new smartphone assembly plant courtesy of Samsung coming to Beni Suef: South Korea’s Samsung Electronics is looking to set up a new factory for smartphone assembly in its industrial complex in Beni Suef in 4Q 2023. The new 6k sqm facility will produce phones for the local market and for export.

#2- And a new plastics factory in the SCZone: Indian firm Abdos signed an agreement tobuild a plastics factory worth USD 30 mn in Orascom Industrial Parks’ (OIP) Sokhna complex.

IT WAS ALSO EVENTFUL ON THE GREEN ENERGY FRONT-

UAE’s Masdar, Infinity Power, and Hassan Allam Utilities signed a land allocationagreement with the Egyptian government for a 10-GW wind farm in Sohag, which is set to be one of the largest in the world. The developers will in the “coming period” carry out feasibility, investor onboarding and environmental studies to bring the project online, with plans to reach financial close within the next 15 months.

ECONOMY-

#1- FX reserves continued to rise: Net foreign reserves inched up to USD 34.66 bn in May from USD 34.55 bn in April, according to central bank figures released last week.

#2- And our non-oil private sector contracted at its slowest pace in 15 months in May: The country’s PMI rose to 47.8 in May from 47.3 in April, marking the second consecutive month of improvement but still falling below the 50.0 mark that separates growth from contraction. The reading suggests “further promise that current economic headwinds were beginning to dissipate,” said David Owen, senior economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence.

#3- That said, the World Bank cut Egypt’s growth outlook for FY2023-2024 to 4.0% due to ongoing economic challenges. The new outlook marks a downward revision of 0.8 percentage points from its last forecast in January.

BUDGET WATCH-

The senate approved the government’sFY 2023-24 development plan which aims to draw EGP 1.65 tn in investment, EGP 1.05 tn of which will come from the government and EGP 600 bn from the private-sector. The plan also targets 4.1% GDP growth for the coming fiscal year and does not does not allocate public money towards new development projects in the coming fiscal year.

WHAT’S HAPPENING NEXT WEEK-

IMF deputy managing director Antoinette Sayeh is expected to land in Cairo in the coming days to meet with Egyptian officials regarding the government’s economic reform program. Sayeh will attend the launch of an IMF paper on Sunday, according to Ahram Online, which didn’t provide further details about her schedule.

REMEMBER-Originally scheduled for mid-March, the IMF has postponed the first review of Egypt’s loan program due to delays implementing several of its key conditions. Under the USD 3 bn facility, Egypt committed to adopting a fully flexible exchange rate and accelerating its privatization program as a means to ending the prolonged FX crunch. The government aims to raise USD 2 bn via asset sales by the end of this month.

Inflation figures should be out next week: Consumer prices are expected to have resumed their upward trajectory last month, according to the median forecast in a Reuters poll of 13 analysts which puts annual urban inflation at 31.4%, up from 30.6% in April. Inflation has soared to near-record highs this year on the back of a series of currency devaluations, the FX crunch and higher energy prices.

The House of Representatives reconvenes on Sunday. On the agenda:

• The FY 2023-2024 budget and socioeconomic development plan will be up for discussion — and potentially, a final vote — on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. The House will be discussing two reports prepared by the House’s budget and planning committee.
• …So will Pachin: The House’s Industrial Committee is also set to hold a meeting next week to discuss state-owned Paint and Chemicals Industries (Pachin), and presumably, the UAE’s National Paints Holding’s 81% acquisition of the company.

We could see a government decision on electricity prices within two weeks: Recommendations for new electricity tariffs have been sent to the cabinet for approval and could be announced within the next two weeks. Electricity prices have been frozenover the past year under efforts to protect households from the rising cost of living.

National Dialogue sessions should resume their regularly scheduled programming on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday, after sessions last week were canceled due to bad weather damaging the venue hosting the event.

RiseUp Retail kicks off tomorrow: RiseUp’s retail industry-focused event, RiseUp Retail, is happening today and Saturday, with the panels set to start at 3pm on both days. The event is taking place at our friends at Marakez’s District 5.

Check out our full calendar on the web for a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events, national holidays and news triggers.

YOUR MOST CLICKED LINKS-

• The EGX’s announcement that Taqa Arabia will list its shares temporarily on the index got the most clicks last week. (Filing, pdf)
• A report from Daily News Egypt that the Qatar Investment Authority has resumed its negotiations over Telecom Egypt’s 45% stake in Vodafone Egypt also got a lot of clicks.

• As did Masdar, Infinity Power, and Hassan Allam Utilities’land allocation agreement with the Egyptian government for a 10-GW wind farm in Sohag. (Statement, pdf)
• On a lighter note, New Cairo’s dutch bakery Bake My Day got a lot of love. (Instagram)

ENTERPRISE IS LOOKING FOR SMART, TALENTED PEOPLE of all backgrounds to help us build some very cool new things. Enterprise — the essential morning read on all the important news shaping business and the economy in Egypt and the region — is looking for writers, reporters and editors to help us build out new publications. Today, we run four daily Egypt and MENA-focused publications, five weekly industry verticals, and a weekend lifestyle edition designed to make our readers feel just a bit smarter.

We have tons more in the pipeline — come help us build new publications. We offer the chance to work in a fast-paced newsroom on a broad range of topics and in a variety of formats. Our goal is simple: To create value for our growing community of >250k daily readers by telling stories that matter.

Journalists looking to explore business, finance and economic stories are welcome. So are recent journalism school graduates.

That said, we’re looking for gifted story-tellers from all walks of life and across all professions, as long as they show a keen interest in learning to write about the stories, topics, businesses, and figures moving markets. Egyptian and foreign nationals alike are welcome to apply. So are job-switchers: If you’re an equities analyst tired of the rat race, we’re a great place to come work.

NEVER WORKED IN A NEWSROOM BEFORE? We have the Enterprise Business Writing Development Program. Whether you are a recent graduate, an industry vet, or looking to switch careers, the Enterprise Business Writing Development Program will give you the tools you need to tell the most important stories to our audience of C-suite officials, government ministers, diplomats, financiers, investors and entrepreneurs.

During the program you will learn:

• The key news stories and trends shaping business and the economy in Egypt and the region, across various sectors;
• Business and finance for non-finance people: Whether it’s industry jargon or key concepts or simply how to read a balance sheet;
• How to construct an Enterprise story: From idea formulation down to the structure, style and tone of writing;
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• How to communicate these stories with the confidence and language of an insider.

Not an internship program — a career: The three-month program will see full-time, paid participants take part in workshops and lectures from veteran business journalists, while also working on and filing stories that will run on any of our publications. Those who have successfully completed the program, will then be given long-term job offers.

Apply directly to jobs@enterprisemea.com and mention “writing development program” in your subject line.

AROUND THE WORLD IN SEVEN DAYS-

The destruction of a major dam in Ukraine was everywhere in the foreign press last week, as thousands of people evacuate from the south of the country to escape the flooding. Ukraine and Russia are both accusing each other of blowing up the dam, which came as the Ukrainian military was preparing for its much-anticipated counter-offensive.

IN THE TECH WORLD- #1- US regulators cracked down on two crypto giants: US regulators filed lawsuits against crypto exchanges Coinbase and Binance. Binance was hit with a civil suit charging it with alleged market manipulation, misuse of funds and misrepresentation. Meanwhile, Coinbase is accused of breaching regulations by failing to register as an exchange.

#2- Apple’s entry into the AR space: At its annual developer conference, Apple announced its arrival into augmented reality with its new ‘Vision Pro’ headset. Most of the chatter focused on the steep price: starting at USD 3,499, the headset is more than three times higher than the most expensive model sold by Meta, the current AR market leader.

🌤️ THE WEATHER THIS WEEKEND- We’re getting a mix of sun, clouds, and high temperatures this weekend, our favorite weather app suggests. Tomorrow’s daytime high is forecast at 40°C, while Saturday is expected to peak at 37°C. Both days will see nighttime lows of 22°C.